A Little Vulnerability
by Abnegation Ravenclaw
Summary: In which Peeta is sick, Katniss is grieving, and both show a little vulnerability.


**Wow, okay. I have posted absolutely NOTHING in what, a month? I do have a decent excuse though. I'm in the middle of moving, so getting wifi is difficult and I start school in a few weeks. Also I've had no ideas so I dug up a three month old Everlark fanfiction that I'd written and revised it. Enjoy.**

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Peeta shivered at the cool touch of Katniss' hand on his forehead. He had closed his eyes exhaustedly a few seconds earlier, but now he opened them up again just in time to see the worried expression on his girlfriend's face.

"What's the damage?" He mumbled, his head slumping forward into his chest.

"Well, you're warm, but I've seen worse." Katniss replied. Although she was trying to appear not fazed at all by his fever, Peeta could tell that she was worried by the tone of her voice. "What hurts?"

"Everything."

She smiled slightly. "Try to narrow it down a bit."

"Okay, fine. I have a headache." Peeta mumbled. "My throat is kind of sore."

"You poor thing." Katniss sat down next to him on the couch, and they both shifted their positions a bit so that his head was resting in her lap. "Just try to sleep a little, okay?"

He nodded and closed his eyes wearily. He shivered a little as a wave of chills hit him. The chills passed after a few seconds, and he finally managed to fall asleep.

When Peeta woke up, Katniss had left her spot on the couch; he figured that he'd probably slept for a while, longer than she cared to hang around. And now, without her next to him, Peeta felt cold, weak, and lonely.

Fortunately, that didn't last too long, because Katniss entered the room with a blanket draped over one arm and a mug of something in her other.

"Hey," she greeted softly, laying the blanket on top of him. "Are you feeling any better?"

Peeta shrugged. "Somewhat."

"Can I get you anything?" Katniss asked, brushing his hair off of his forehead gently. "I have some herbal medicine, but if you need anything else..."

"Water would be great, actually." He croaked.

"Alright. I'll be right back." She stood up and made her way, once again, out of the room. Peeta sighed; the cold, lonely feeling had just hit him again.

Katniss returned with a glass of water, which she handed to him. Peeta, gingerly, took a sip. It was cool and refreshing, and did wonders for his sore throat.

"You know what this reminds me of?" He remarked, his voice rough.

"What?"

"It reminds me of when we were in the games..." Peeta trailed off to cough. "And I was dying-"

"You're not dying." Katniss suddenly snapped.

"I... I never said I was." He replied, puzzled. "Why-"

"I've just..." She took a deep breath, and Peeta noticed tears in her eyes. "I've just lost so many people. Finnick, my father, Prim..." She blinked, and tears came pouring down her cheeks.

Katniss never really cried. She hated crying, she hated being weak, she hated appearing vulnerable. But Peeta couldn't help but feel slightly honored that she was showing her vulnerable side to him. It meant that she trusted him enough to not make her feel weak.

"And I... I almost lost you three times." Katniss continued, her voice quivering. "Once, in our first games... Cato stabbed you and it was... It was _so close_ to killing you."

"That was when you took care of me." Peeta mumbled.

"That was when I realized that I had fallen for you." She admitted, looking at the floor. "Except things were complicated back then."

There was a silence between them before she spoke again.

"And then I almost lost you the second time," Katniss continued. "In our second games. When you hit the force field. You stopped breathing. You didn't have a pulse. If it weren't for Finnick..." The rest of the sentence hung in the air.

"And the third time?" Peeta said softly.

"When you were captured by the Capitol." The words sent another wave of tears down Katniss' cheeks. "I was so _sure_ that I had lost you. There was no hope that you were okay... Until the Capitol broadcasts. Then I had a little sliver of hope to cling onto, but it wasn't _you_. And you were rescued, but you were hijacked, and I just... I thought that was it. That there was none of the real you left."

"But there was," Peeta supplied. "I'm okay. Well... Somewhat okay."

Even years after the hijacking, he still sometimes had flashbacks.

Katniss offered a weak smile. "Yeah." She pressed her lips to his forehead, giving him a soft kiss that made his burning forehead tingle. "I love you."

"I love you too." He mumbled, suddenly feeling very tired. A yawn escaped him and his eyelids felt heavy.

"Don't fall asleep yet." Katniss said firmly. "Take the medicine first. It'll make you feel better, and it should help you fall asleep."

She brought a flask of the herbal medicine she had brought earlier to his lips, and he swallowed. The taste was actually pleasant, for medicine, at least.

And Peeta slipped into a blissful sleep soon after.

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 **Honestly I'm not very proud of this story... It just doesn't f** **low, ugh.**

 **Anyway, my goal for this was to show vulnerability in both Katniss and Peeta, so I hope I did that alright.**

 **If anyone likes Doctor Who and ships Rory/Amy, I might have a story coming up involving that.**

 **Also, as I'm going through extreme writers block at the moment, comment story ideas for one of (or more) of these fandoms:**

 **1) Percy Jackson**

 **2) Doctor Who**

 **3) Harry Potter**

 **4) The Hunger Games**

 **thanks :)**


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